Cook These 5 Ingredients Into Your Videos For Maximum Conversions

Warning: casual video marketers and brands looking for impressions may want to open a different cookbook.

Their dish doesn’t require the precise culinary skill a direct response marketer’s recipe calls for.

Getting eyeballs on your video is all well and good, but it’s what happens after (and during) that really pads your bottom line.

If generating a positive ROI on your video or video sales letter interests you…

… and if making videos that actually matter to your target audience sounds good…

Here’s a proven 5-step recipe to satiate your prospect’s hunger (and fill your kitchen with new customers):

1. Pattern Interrupt

We know our prospects are lazy. They could care less about you or your business until they know you can help them when they need it.

The average person’s attention span’s thought to be less than that of a goldfish now. Anywhere between 6-10 seconds most times.

(Even that could be pushing it.)

So it makes sense you’d want to do anything in your power to hijack the viewer’s fickle attention span and channel it onto your video.

A simple- but not easy- way to do this is with a pattern interrupt.

That’s a fancy psychologist’s term for changing a person’s state "in the moment” by presenting something that affects the person’s thought or behavior.

Basically, you need to do something at the start of your video that challenges expectations.

Assuming your video isn’t on auto-play (so the prospect purposely clicks on the video to watch it), they are expecting content immediately relating to what your business does.

If you’re an insurance company, they’re waiting for typical talk about safety or protecting a family or asset, for instance.

A video from a home solar panel installation company creates the expectation the first thing the viewer sees will be solar panels or a roof.

So… starting the video with a "warning” message, a picture of an apple, or raw footage of a person talking on the phone would all draw attention to the video, because it’s out of the ordinary.

No one expects this imagery or discussion to lead-off content from these sorts of businesses.

(For the actual creative execution of where these ideas would go next- and still sell your product or service- check out this page.)

You need to hook the viewer right from the outset to overcome the attention-span challenge.

Once you’ve successfully done that, you’ve got to push them one step closer to engaging with you…

2. Titillating Promise

After the pattern interrupt is expanded on and you’re past your introduction, you must plant a "tease” that the viewer wants to stick around for to learn.

This is vital.

To keep the viewer engaged and paying attention to your video, you tell them they’ll get the answer to a problem or question you raise right then and there.

(Of course, base it on a known problem or challenge the prospect likely has.)

Again, this is a simple insertion into your video, but it’s not easy to do.

For example, using the insurance business again, you could say something like:

"That’s how we stumbled upon what’s probably the best plan structure customers have ever seen. But… you need to know when (and when not) to use it. More on that in just a minute…”

After you’ve pulled them into your conversation from the Pattern Interrupt and introduction, you subtly segue into your sales conversation by promising something of value—but not giving it up right then and there.

A sneaky little persuasion trick that- when done well- creates some inner turmoil in the viewer who can’t stand being left in the dark as their curiosity-meter cranks up several notches.

3. Great Content

This is video marketing 101.

If you cinch on this ingredient, the whole dish turns out flat.

If you’re going to spend the time and money to produce a video, ensure you’re teaching or showing the viewer something that matters to them.

Does it solve a problem, inform, or give something to think about or try that the viewer can act on? Preferably, the action involves you and your company somewhere down the line, if not immediately.

What constitutes great content?

It all depends on who you’re trying to persuade. And you (hopefully) know those people better than anyone else.

With the insurance example, great content could include actual stories from clients- not testimonials, but preferably a "bad to good” story-line showcasing the initial problem and ending with the eventual solution. This can demonstrate a particular plan’s effectiveness or a financial strategy’s success.

It could even include recommendations for particular plans depending on certain life situations.

We don’t need to tell you what your customers care about. But you need to discuss things they care about while demonstrating the role you play in getting them where they want to be—and away from where they don’t want to be.

4. An Offer

Shocking how often this one’s missed.

If you’ve got the first 3 ingredients covered, this one’s a natural next step.

Now you’ve got their attention, you’ve promised something of value, provided great content, and you’re ready to capitalize on your video marketing investment.

You didn’t create your video for the fun of it, did you?

You are trying to be helpful to your prospects, so why not round out your help through a specific offer from your business?

We’re marketing to serve and to build business. But too often brands forget that second part.

There’s nothing wrong with putting on your sales hat and presenting the viewer with a relevant next step.

Using the insurance example, offer a free consultation, quote or even a report to further inform the viewer. Do it in exchange for an email address or a phone call to meet the prospect.

This is where you could also unveil the "teased promise” from ingredient #2. Give the answer promised, and make the offer the vehicle through which they’ll be able to get use of that answer.

You unveil what that great plan structure is and best situations to use it in, and the offer that follows could be an email video series with further details for the viewer to act on.

It’s all in exchange for a name and email address.

It’s up to you… but the point is not to lose the potential lead watching your video. You’ve provided all this value, so go the last step and establish a relationship right there.

(Done right, prospects will thank you for it.)

5. Call To Action

The final ingredient to your visual piece-de-résistance is your direct instruction on how the viewer will take advantage of ingredient #4 above.

Are you sending them to an opt-in page to capture contact information?

Are you providing a phone number to dial so you can give them what they’d like from you?

Maybe it’s leaving a comment below the video for follow-up with a sales rep at your business?

Whatever the case, you’re well-served to make the instructions clear and relatively effortless for the prospect to follow.

Even better? Make whatever you’re offering time-sensitive, so the viewer’s more inclined to act on your request for action.

For everyone’s sake, make it genuine. False scarcity or a deadline that isn’t based on fact isn’t only unpersuasive, it’s insulting. And embarrassing for the marketer.

Your Perfect Meal

These 5 ingredients- combined with a dash of creativity and pinch of salesmanship based on your buyer persona- make for the perfect video marketing recipe.

When you follow these steps… you’ll be hard-pressed to find a higher converting video strategy.

Don’t forget to always keep your ideal prospect top-of-mind. Just because you think they’ll care about your video doesn’t mean they actually will.

Build on your customer data and past marketing results that tell you what prospects actually respond to.

Video marketing requires ego to be checked at the door.

Sean K. Fay